Sustainable outdoor activities start with WhoSki.com.
The WhoSki.com marketplace is making it easier for wintersports and outdoor activity enthusiasts to think and act green, reduce your carbon footprint on the trails and on the piste – and support the businesses that are acting sustainably in the outdoor sector.
Check our #GreenDirectory of businesses operating in the outdoor activity sector before you book your next ski trip, plan your next walk or buy your next piece of kit.
What happens to your unwanted outdoor activity kit?
Do you take it the charity shop? Pass it on to a friend? Leave it in the back of your wardrobe or shove it in the shed?
Around 75% of clothing sent to charity shops fails to find a second home – and that’s even higher for specialist items like ski wear and outdoors clothing. If it doesn’t sell, it gets incinerated, shredded, or dumped in landfill where the average polyester product is likely to survive for more than 200 years. Zips, chemical coatings, mixed materials make outdoor clothing almost impossible to recycle. Discarded ski wear and outdoor clothing is now also appearing in the polluting landfill dumps of Africa: horrifying.
Experts calculate that extending the active life of clothing by just three months per item, would lead to a 5-10% reduction in the carbon, water and waste footprints of your family’s no longer needed ski kit. Disposing of your unwanted clothing via the circular economy is among the simplest steps you can take: sustainable skiing and outdoor activities start with WhoSki.com.
Throw-away fashion in numbers:
- 87% of clothing ends up in landfill in the UK = 11 MILLION clothing items sent to landfill or incineration every week = 300,000 tonnes of textiles
- £460 BILLION of wearable clothing is thrown away EVERY YEAR
- seven times is the average number of wears a clothing item gets before being discarded
- 26kg of clothes are consumed by Europeans per person / per year and 11kg are thrown away
- 24% of people throw out clothing because they are ‘bored’ with wearing the same thing
- A mere 15% of our textiles waste is recycled
- 66% of our waste is generated by those on higher incomes
Read more: Textiles in Europe’s Circular Economy (European Environment Agency); UK named fourth largest textile waste producer in Europe (CircularOnline.co.uk)
Sustainable fashion
Globally, most used textiles end up in landfill. Such poor waste management leads to a loss of the value in the material and takes up landfill space, which costs money and is scarce in many countries.
The Ellen Macarthur Foundation
The fashion industry is in the spotlight due to the wasteful nature of current practices. Brands are increasingly aware of the need to adopt a more sustainable approach.
The circular economy
That’s why fashion companies are increasingly starting to encourage customers to pass on clothing they no longer want or need: promoting re-use and recycling via what has become known as the circular economy.
As a consumer, it means clearing out your wardrobe and passing on the items that you’re finished with. They’re no longer of use to you, but may be exactly what someone else is looking for.
For outdoor and wintersports clothing and equipment, that’s where WhoSki.com comes in. Be part of the sustainable fashion revolution. Ski in style. Hit the trails with a clear conscience. Save money (and the planet). Join the circular economy. #PassItOn
